Fallout from Marriott “giveaway”…MPs aim to close loopholes for future ventures

Opposition lawmakers are scrambling to correct what they see as glaring loopholes, as questions continue to swirl over

AFC MP, Moses Nagamootoo

the multi-million-dollar Marriott-branded hotel deal. Over the weekend, Atlantic Hotel Inc. (AHI), the company that owns and is constructing the controversial Kingston hotel, broke its silence on the secret investor, disclosing that two Hong Kong-based businessmen – Victor How Chung Chan and Xu Han – will be investing. Startling enough, the British Virgin Islands-registered company, ACE Square Investments Ltd, owned by the businessmen, will acquire a staggering 67 per cent of the equity of AHI for US$8M. The total cost of the project is tagged at US$58M. How Government allowed that to happen, despite widespread criticisms and warnings, is what has earned the ire of the Alliance for Change (AFC). According to Member of Parliament and party Vice-Chairman Moses Nagamootoo, the financial arrangements of the hotel are being incorrectly described as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model – mixing taxpayers’ dollars and those of private investors. “What we see happening here is definitely something other than a PPP. We are considering tabling a policy paper to be considered, as soon as possible, in the National Assembly on how we proceed on these types of investments in the future.”